"When you inhale the cooler air, you actually cool the airway of the inside of the nose, and this is not what we have evolved to deal with. So the virus has found a nice home to replicate," the study's lead researcher told WTNH.

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Lab tests showed when nasal passages get colder than the body's normal temperature, that curbs two different molecules that prevent the virus from spreading.

But when your nose is kept at the normal, non-sick temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the virus can't replicate.